


How to Influence Friends and Win People

by WhiteTiger



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation, Lots of Original Character(s), Multi, Original Character(s), Post-Hogwarts, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, The power of friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-15 09:08:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14787596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteTiger/pseuds/WhiteTiger
Summary: The next generation takes on Hogwarts. A story of friendship, drama and romance with only a hint of mortal peril. Takes place during James Potter II's fifth year.“Hurry up boys, we’re going to be late!” Let nobody ever say that Lily Luna Potter wasn't her mother’s daughter.James rolled his eyes skyward and cursed the day his parents made the decision to procreate after the birth of their first, perfect child.





	1. Of Kissing and Surprise Faces

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress, though I have already written roughly twenty chapters. Just a warning, this'll probably be a long one.

“Hurry up boys, we’re going to be late!” Let nobody ever say that Lily Luna Potter wasn't her mother’s daughter. James rolled his eyes skyward and cursed the day his parents made the decision to procreate after the birth of their first, perfect child. He and Albus were both already standing by the fireplace, as per usual it was Lily they were waiting on. They shared an exasperated glance, shaking their heads almost in sync, and huffed a sigh each. The only time they ever got along was when they were complaining about their sister, but wasn't that always the way with siblings. 

Harry shuffled into the room, pulling his daughter’s trunk behind him. As soon as he noticed his sons watching he began huffing and puffing, slowing dragging the apparently heavy trunk across the room before dropping it at their feet with a large groan. James turned his head to hide the small smile that had crept across his face, it wouldn't do for a fifth year to be caught laughing at his parents lame jokes. 

Lily flounced into the room not a second later. Harry turned to meet her with a wide innocent grin stretched across his face, which soon turned to a frown when he noticed what she was wearing. Before he could say anything a call came floating down the stairs.

“Lily Luna, you can turn yourself around and come right back up these stairs, there is no way you are leaving this house in a skirt that short!” Lily grumbled a bit but did it, no one in their right mind would disobey mum when she spoke like that. Dad looked relieved, he hated fighting with his kids, especially baby Lily.

“Second years these days” Albus mumbled, James threw a grin his way whilst Harry simply chose to ignore them. Within minutes Lily was back, Ginny a step behind her, strolling straight to the fireplace and flooing to Kings Cross. Mum let out a frustrated groan before quickly following her; she hated it when Lily did that, especially these days. Harry picked up her trunk and hurried after them throwing a wink the boys’ way. 

Both James and Albus picked up their luggage, rushing forward, fighting to be the first one through. Albus won and with a cocky grin threw the powder down, disappearing in a flash of green fire. James paused for a moment, taking in the quiet room, their mismatched furniture and the happy family pictures that graced the pale yellow walls. With a small fond grin he grabbed his trunk, and the handle of his owl’s cage and followed his family through the flames.

***

The hustle and bustle of the platform assaulted him as soon as he stepped out of the fireplace, he shook his head, disorientated.

“Jamie, this way” his mother called out, he glanced up just in time to see his family disappearing into the sea of people. He followed after them, knocking into a girl on the way.

“Sorry!” he called over his shoulder, not even stopping to help her up, he’d feel bad about that later, but now he had to get his luggage on board and score a nice carriage for his friends.

***

Halo dusted herself off as Cassiopeia reached down a hand to help her up.

“It’s pretentious idiots like Potter that really make me hate this world” Cassiopeia only nodded. She’d had a crush on Potter for years now, and she couldn’t quite bring herself to say anything bad about him.

“Come on, let’s say go say goodbye, maybe we can actually get our own carriage this year.” Cassiopeia pulled Halo through the bustling crowd of people. They had aimed to get here quite early, but like usual they had somehow ended up late. She really didn’t know how it happened, clearly time management was quite poor in this family. 

***  
"Now, Jamie, I want you to look after your sister this year…” 

“This year? Are you implying that I didn’t look after her last year?” 

“No Jamie, of course not” Ginny sighed, eyes locked on Lily as she looked around for her friends (or maybe cute boys, James amended), paranoid that she would try to run off again. James looked over to see Harry muttering away to Albus, turning back to find Ginny half way across the platform after an escaping Lily. 

With a slight shake of his head at his crazy family James jumped onto the train and wandered off in search of an empty carriage. 

***

“Bye, Mr and Mrs Finch-Fletchley, see you next year” Halo called with a grin as she left Cass to say goodbye to her family and jumped on the train. She knew that at least Lizbeth would already be here, and would probably have snagged a carriage for them. If she hurried she’d be able to stop her from letting anyone else bully their way in. She walked briskly down the hallway dodging the various kids that littered the way. About halfway down the train she saw Liz’s distinctive pale brown, curly hair disappearing into a carriage. With a grin she sped after her, finally this year they would have a carriage, no more sharing with third years, or being squished in with five other people. 

She was so caught up in the fantasy she almost didn’t notice when she ran into Potter again, right outside the door of Liz’s carriage. 

“Excuse me.” she said politely, trying to side step him. With a mischievous grin on his face, he matched her.

“You don’t want to go in there, it’s occupied.” He proclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows like a creep.

“Yeah, by my friend” She insisted, knocking him out of the way and throwing the door open with a snort of derision. It took her a second to comprehend what she found inside. With her mouth gapping open she watched as Liz frantically threw herself back off the lap of the one and only, Hamish Thomas. 

“Told you” Potter smirked from behind her.

“Oh, hiya Halo, good to see you, had a good summer?” Liz asked, voice slightly shaky as she straightened her short blue denim skirt, retucking in her yellow stripy top where Thomas’ fingers had clearly pulled it up. Halo only raised her eyebrows, her lips slightly pursed, clearly unamused. 

“Right well, we best be off. Gotta go find our friends” Liz continued, trying her hardest to make this frighteningly embarrassing experience as normal as possible.

“That’s okay babe,” Thomas said as he stood up too. 

‘Babe’ Halo mouthed, eyes locked on Liz.

“You can have this carriage, we’ll find another”

“Don’t be silly, you were here first. Come on Halo, I’m sure the others are looking for us” and with that Liz swept out of the room, dragging Halo with her.

“Babe, babe, BABE!” Halo frantically whispered “What in the hell was that?” 

“I was going to tell you.”

“When!?” 

“Well, now, I guess.” Liz tucked a ringlet behind her ear as a blush overtook her face.

“You could have owled me. And why on earth did you give up the carriage?” 

“Oh, Halo, stop being ridiculous, I’m sure the others have one. Plus he was there first.”

“Whatever” They continued the rest of the way down the train in silence.

“Halo, Liz, in here.” Cassiopeia called out from an open doorway before disappearing back inside. Before Lizbeth could step in Halo grabbed her by the arm.

“Are you happy?” she asked quietly. Liz nodded, a small, besotted smile on her face.

“Then that’s all that matters.” And with that Liz and Halo followed Cass into the carriage.

***

“So, anything new to report this year, girls?” Thalia asked as she munched away on a liquorice wand.

“Oh, nothing in particular” Halo mumbled with a sly grin Liz’s way. Lizbeth shook her head frantically, wide eyes begging Halo to stop. Halo, like the good friend she was, relented, munching away at her own chocolate wand. 

“Do you know who got prefect?” Cassiopeia asked quietly from her seat by the window. 

“Do you even need to ask?” Catarina laughed abrasively “Obviously it was Miss. Perfect Anastasia.” 

“You don’t know that.” Thalia argued.

“Oh, don’t I?” Catarina asked, thick dark eyebrow raised almost to her hairline.

“Actually it was Anastasia, I heard her talking about it on the platform.” Lizbeth piped up, glad for the change in topic.

“That’s nice for Ana, perhaps we should go and congratulate her?” Thalia suggested, in that way of she had that made it clear it wasn’t really a suggestion. Cassiopeia nodded and trotted after her as they left the carriage. 

“So I might be kinda dating Hamish Thomas.” Liz burst out. Halo couldn’t help but giggle when Lizbeth threw her hand over her mouth as if she couldn’t believe she had said that. 

“You what?” Catarina asked almost snorting her pumpkin juice, dark blue eyes widening in shock. “For how long?” 

“Since the beginning of the summer.” That stupid smile graced her face again.

“Wait, this doesn’t mean we have to hang out with him and his friends do we? Cause I don’t know if I can handle spending any prolonged time with a bunch of Gryffindors.”

“Here, here.” Halo muttered 

“Don't worry it's my relationship, nothing needs to change with us. We don't need to broaden our social circle to include anyone else.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“I think we have a broad enough social circle, thank you very much.” Catarina argued, affronted. 

“Don't even kid, you hate half our friend group anyway.”

“Exactly, what on earth makes you think I would want to make it any bigger.” 

Halo tuned out the argument she has heard a thousand times before, and let her gaze drift out to the passing countryside. 

They were interrupted by the opening of the carriage door five minutes later, when Potter, Thomas and two of their friends barged in and threw themselves down on the empty seats. 

“There’s this thing called knocking, and you know, waiting to be invited in, basic manners.” Catarina grumbled, the boys ignored her, focused on Thomas and Lizbeth. 

“So this is your lucky lady, huh?” Wood started, holding his hand out “I’m Bay Wood, this here is Fred Weasley the second, and as I have no doubt you already know, this is James Potter.”

“Also the second, that’s very important, adds prestige” Potter added with a cocky grin. Liz gave a small smile, but Halo could tell she wasn't all that impressed. Thomas also gave a slight grimace, maybe he was able to read Liz too, either that or he knew how much of a pretentious douchebag Potter was. 

“We just wanted to come in, break the ice, get to know you a little. The usual.”

“The usual? So Thomas has dated a lot of girls then?” Catarina questioned harshly.

Once again the boys ignored her, talking amongst themselves and clearly settling in for the long haul. Halo threw a glance at Catarina but she crossed her arms in a huff and turned her head to watch as the English countryside passed by, she was not going anywhere, not if it meant leaving Liz in here alone with the boys.

Halo got up and with a gesture at Liz, left the carriage, she wasn't going to spend the rest of the ride to Hogwarts being ignored, no matter how desperate Liz looked, she'd be fine with fierce Catarina. 

Halo wandered down the train glancing absentmindedly into each carriage as she passed, hoping to find one full with her friends. In the second to last carriage, she struck gold. 

“Hello lovelies, how are we all?” Halo particularly sang as she pulled the door open, six stunned and guilty faces swung to look at her. “Uh oh, what have I walked in on?”

"Oh it's nothing, we’re just gossiping” Renesmee waved her off, flipping her pale thin hair over her shoulder.

“Ohhh, who are we gossiping about?” Halo enquired playfully swinging into the room and plopping herself down between Sarah and Jane with a wiggle. Sarah laughed and swatted at her while Jane just smiled. 

“We heard an interesting rumour.” Thalia began, clearly winding up to drive into a long suspenseful story. Portia cut her off.

“Is Liz dating Hamish Thomas?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny.” Halo smirked, leaning over to grab a bright purple sweet out of Cassiopeia's bag. 

"So it's true!” Cass exclaimed.

“I didn’t say that, but what I can say is that Thomas and his friends may or may not be in our carriage right now. Make of that what you will.” With a shrug Halo focused back on her sweet, it was sherbety, similar to a pop rock. Perhaps a fizzing whizzbee, a few seconds later she started floating, definitely a fizzing whizzbee.

“Yep, it's totally true.” Thalia looked satisfied, as if she had gotten to the bottom of some amazing mystery. Halo wasn't willing to burst her bubble. 

She stared across the carriage as her friends moved on to different topics she couldn't be arsed to focus on, preferring to instead watch as the light streaming in from the small window highlighted the blond streaks in Cass’ hair, turned Thalia’s into a light bouncy golden mane and reflected wildly off the reading glasses perched on top of Portia’s head.

A few hours later, after a rousing game of wizards chess and a long discussion on the amazing books they had read that summer, the three girls returned to the carriage to change.

“What do we do if they’re still there?” Cassiopeia wrung her hands together as they moved back up the train.

“We give them a show of course.” Thalia threw a flirty grin over her shoulder, her blue eyes sparkling. Cass’ eyes almost bugged out of her head “I'm kidding, gosh Cass, as if. No we’ll send them packing, at least Catarina will. If she hasn't already” Thalia finished in a mutter, and sure enough when they opened the door, only Liz and Catarina remained, in a thick silence, noses buried in their respective books. As the saying goes ‘you could cut the tension with a knife’. 

They both looked up, relief gracing their faces. 

“Come on girls, time to change.” Thalia almost trilled, oblivious to or ignoring the tension that still permeated the air. They all shuffled into their uniforms, faking a groan or two at the itchiness of the material and confinement of the shirts, but none could hide the real relief they felt at what the uniforms signified. They were almost home.


	2. Of Crushes and Plans

“I think I might have eaten too much” Catarina lay groaning on her bed, an arm thrown dramatically over her face.

“Might have” Thalia laughed lightly “You ate the equivalent of a small cow”

“Just cause you're a skinny bitch, that only ingests salad and air.” Catarina mumbled into her arm.

“What was that?” Thalia sat perched at her ‘makeup stand’ otherwise known as her trunk. She was, as she had insisted earlier “trying to decide what ‘look’ to go for tomorrow”

“Nothing.”

"Mhhhhm. That's what I thought.” Thalia examined herself in the conjured mirror, turning her head this way and that, watching as the sparkly blue eyeshadow shimmed in the white light. “Guys, what do you think? Does this bring out the blue in my eyes, or overpower it?”

“I like it.” Liz smiled as she strolled out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam and sweet, flowery perfume. Her presence brought an excited shine to Thalia’s eyes. 

“Uhh, here we go” Halo whispered quietly, Catarina shot her a look, eyebrow raised from under her arm.

“So Liz, dating anyone new?” Thalia asked innocently, fiddling with the jewellery scattered across the table. 

“Really Halo?” Liz had her hands on her hips, long hair tied up in a bun on her head that Halo knew would become a frizzy mess without some treatment.

“Hey, I didn't say anything…” 

“She didn't have too, Ana saw you and Thomas getting cosy in a carriage.” Thalia defended, swinging around to look Liz in the eye. “Were you planning on ever telling us?”

“Of course I was, I was just waiting for the right time. Plus it's not exactly your business, Thalia”

“Of course it's my business, you're my best friend. You got a boyfriend and left me to find out through Ana, do you know how humiliating that was for me?!” 

Without a word Cass and Halo got up and left the room, they didn't plan on sticking around for that argument. Catarina simply got comfortable on the blue bedspread, she loved a little conflict. 

“So how are you feeling about all this?” Halo asked as soon as the door swung shut behind her. Cass didn't answer until they reached the empty common room.

“Why would I feel anything?” Cass sunk down into the blue armchair she had claimed as hers two years ago. Halo shot her an unimpressed look as she spread out on the couch. “Two words, James Potter.”

“Shhhh” 

“Oh, who's going to hear us, we're Ravenclaw for goodness sake, they're all up in their rooms reading or getting an earlier nights sleep before tomorrow.”

“Fine, so maybe I'm a little bit excited, and jealous…”

Halo said nothing, waiting for her to gather her thoughts and continue.

“I'm jealous, because she always seems to have someone, and I've never even had a proper conversation with a boy… And I'm excited because this might mean that we can spend a little bit of time with them, and maybe, with a little bit of luck, he just might like me.” Cass smiled a little, before catching herself “is that wrong of me? Only thinking about myself?”

“Everybody has to think about themselves sometimes, Cass.” Halo said lightly. After a long thoughtful pause she continued. “What do you want Cass?” 

“What?” 

“It's a simply question, what do you want?” Cass look as though she had never been asked that question before, her blue eyes wide. She sat for a moment, not saying anything, before she began to blush.

“There it is” Halo smiled “what do you want.” 

“I don't know if I can say it.” 

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you can, I'm not going to judge you.” Halo fussed with her blue and silver tie, before pulling it off entirely and wrapping it around her fist. She hated the tie sometimes, but she also had no wish to lose it. Cass wasn't answering so Halo let her eyes wander, admiring the tall, packed bookcases and scattered desks that filled the room. She loved the light airy feeling this room created, even at night. She had only ever been in one other common room, but that didn't stop her from believing Ravenclaw to be the prettiest one in the entire castle. 

"I want James Potter" Cass finally burst out, before covering her eyes with her hands “God that made me sound like a complete creep.” Halo just laughed, delighted at Cass’ cuteness.

“Well then, I guess we're going to get you James Potter.” 

“How?!” 

Halo sat up, a serious look crossing her face. “This is what we're going to do…”

***

“So, Liz seems nice.” James broke the silence with his famous eyebrow wiggle.

"Don't even start with me Potter.” Hamish was sprawled out on his bed, one hand buried in his thick black hair the other on his flat stomach. 

“Oh come on, you've been crushing on the girl since third year, and now all of a sudden your dating her.” James sat up, dangling his legs of the end of his four poster bed. “Give us details”

“What are you, a girl? I'm not going to sit around and gossip with you about my relationship.” 

“Oh come on” 

“No”

“Come on”

“No!” James could tell he was cracking as a small smile broke out across his face

“Come on.” James wheedled “maybe you can give me some tips” 

“There is no way Anastasia will ever go out with you, so you may as well give up now.” Bay laughed from his perch on the window seat “Plus how would Emma feel if she heard you asking for tips on how to date someone else?”

“Shut up, and you know Emma’s just a practice run for the real thing.” 

“You're such a twat, mate” Bay laughed “don't let Mclaggen hear you calling his sister that. He'd kill you”

“Naugh, Mclaggen worships the ground James walks on.” Fred piped up from the bathroom

“No, the only thing Mclaggen worships is himself” They all laughed.

“Stop trying to change the subject” James cut in “seriously, how did you do it?” 

The boys went silent, all of them wanted to hear it, even Archer, who stopped pretending to snore and sat up to listen.

“We started talking right at the end of last year.” Hamish began, a resigned look on his face, like he knew that they would eventually drag it out of him. “She started it actually, walked up to me in the library and asked to borrow the book I had on my table. I about swallowed my own tongue. I had no idea what to say, I just nodded… I probably looked like a complete idiot.” He laughed a little self consciously, ruffling his hair. “She just thanked me, gave that cute little smile of hers and left with the book. The funny thing was I actually really needed it, so after a panicked few moments I just picked up all my things and followed her. She was siting by herself at one of those desks that are pushed right up against the window. I just sat down next to her and we started studying together. She never said anything, and I really didn't want to push my luck, so the next day I sat by myself and, believe it or not, she came and sat with me. We studied together for the rest of that week, and then when we were coming home on the train she asked me to owl her over the holidays so we could meet up. So I did… And I'm not telling you anymore” Hamish finished as his dark cheeks turned a little red. They boys didn't say anything.

“Well that's bloody useless” James burst out after a long pause. “How's that supposed to help me with Anastasia?” 

“You know she got Ravenclaw prefect this year” Archer spoke up for the first time that night. 

“Yeah, so what?” 

“So you got Gryffindor prefect right?” Archer continued slowly, as if talking to an idiot.

“Yes, I showed you the badge remember” James was close to loosing his temper.

“So that can be your book.” 

“What?” 

“What can be his book?” Fred questioned, coming out to lean against the doorframe, a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth

“Yeah Archer, you've lost me.” Bay cut in, even Hamish looked confused.

“You finally have something in common” Archer explained. “Just talk to her about prefect stuff, be your usually charming self and before you know it, boom, you’re in.”

“That's actually not a completely stupid idea” Bay relented, Fred raised his eyebrows before spinning around and heading back into the bathroom. 

“I have my moments” Archer settled back down in his sheets with a self-satisfied smile on his face. 

“But what prefect stuff?” James was like a dog with a bone.

“I don't know I've never been a prefect.” 

“Neither have I, what do prefects talk about?” 

“Look mate, we aren't going to figure it out tonight. Go to sleep now and we'll sought it out later.” Hamish pulled his sheets downs and got settled. “Fred, knock off the lights when you’re done” and with a grunt of acknowledgement the boys settled down to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Know there's a lot of dialogue, it's something I'm trying to cut down on. Hopefully there will be less dialogue in the next chapter. Thanks for reading :)


	3. Of Early Mornings and Bad Feelings

The next morning dawned way to early for the girls comfort, Thalia and Liz had argued well into the early hours of the morning until Catarina finally lost it and screamed at them to stop. An uncomfortable silence had soon followed and one by the one the girls had drifted off into an uneasy sleep. 

“Oh my god, look at my hair!” Lizbeth’s shriek had them all jolting awake, Catarina even managing to fall out of her bed. 

"Don't worry, I can fix it, it's fine” Thalia soothed from her seat at her makeup stand were she was putting the final touches of her face together. She stood up, sweeping the perfectly ironed seems of her short skirt flat and wandered into the bathroom after Liz.

“I hate them, I officially hate them” Catarina groaned, not even bothering to move. Cassiopeia laughed lightly, getting up to help her off the floor. “Come on Catarina, I'll help you brush your hair”

Halo pulled the pillow over her head and released a scream, before she too stumbled up and began getting dressed, pulling a brush roughly through her hair and hunting around for her missing tie. She found it looped around the bed railing and with a laugh pulled it on, wandering over to Catarina who straightened it perfectly. Cass smiled vaguely as she helped unknot the dark brown bush on Catarina’s head. 

Halo shuffled into the bathroom, brushing past Thalia as she muttered quiet spells, waving her wand through Liz’s hair. The dorm finished getting ready in silence, everybody too tired to engage in much conversation. Fifteen minutes later they headed down to the great hall together, as had been their tradition since first year, ‘to present an united front on the first day’. 

“Hey girls,” they swung around to find Anastasia descending the stairs behind them, her two friends following her. One of them leaned down to whisper something in her ear and Anastasia let out a laugh. 

“Oh you're too funny, Pandora.” With a tiny little smirk Anastasia headed their way, her long red hair tied into a thick plait down her back. Halo watched out of the corner of her eye as Catarina grabbed Lizbeth's arm and dragged her away, she felt like screaming “take me with you too!!”

“How are we all this glorious morning?” Anastasia asked, her bright green eyes shining at some private joke, no doubt at their expense. 

"Better now that your here, Ana” Thalia answered as she looped arms with Anastasia and led the way out of the common room. Halo listened vaguely as Thalia chattered away, watching as every few seconds Anastasia turned round to flick a significant look at her friends. Cass seemed oblivious, walking quickly to keep up, trying to assert herself in the conversation. Halo hung back even more ‘so much for an united front’ she thought as they made it to the great hall, she spied Liz and Catarina hiding with the Hufflepuffs and shuffled that way, breaking off from the group as the neared the Ravenclaw table. She felt a bit awkward heading to another houses table, on any other day she wouldn't worry, but on the first day the houses typically sat together. Oh well, there was no way she was going to sit with Ana and her cronies, she'd rather stab herself. She looked up towards the ceiling, watching as a small wispy cloud floated by, it was going to be a beautiful day today, she could already tell. 

“Traitors” Halo poked Catarina cruelly in the back as she sat down beside her “how could you leave me behind like that?” She turned her lips down in an exaggerated pout. Liz just laughed, eyes locked on the entrance to the hall.

“It was a desperate situation, you had to be sacrificed” Catarina mumbled as she chewed away at a strip of bacon. Halo stole one as punishment “so much for never leaving a man behind” she mumbled, mouth full.

“That's disgusting” Renesmee laughed, Halo looked up to find her friends perched on the other side of the table. 

“I didn't even see you guys there” Halo mumbled guiltily, catching Sarah’s small dark eyes with her blue ones, mouth twisted in apology 

“Clearly” Portia mumbled, her bronzed eyebrow raised. Halo stuck her tongue out, and Renesmee laughed again, her tiny body shaking with the force of her chuckles. Jane wasn't even paying attention eyes on the textbook she had rested against the jug of juice. 

“Really Jane, who's the Ravenclaw again?” Jane looked up, throwing a lock of her light brown hair over her shoulder 

“You know people who aren't Ravenclaw's can care about their studies” she turned her attention back to her book and Halo decided to let her be.

Liz began smiling and sent a shy wave towards the entrance of the Great Hall, Halo followed her gaze to watch as Thomas, Potter and their three friends wandered in. Thomas waved back a little, but otherwise ignored her walking with his friends to take a seat at the Gryffindor table. Liz looked a little downtrodden but quickly shrugged it off focusing on the conversation (argument) Portia and Catarina were having over pygmy puffs of all things. 

Halo looked over her shoulder, glaring slightly at Thomas, he caught her gaze a guilty look already upon his face that only deepened the longer she looked at him. She shook her head and turned back to her breakfast, he had gotten the message, hopefully that would be it. 

***

Unfortunately that wasn't the case, in the two lessons they shared with the Gryffindors, Thomas ignored Lizbeth completely, not even looking her way. Liz was upset, obviously they had never talked about how they were going to treat each other at school. Even Wood had noticed, throwing confused looks Thomas’ way every couple of minutes. 

“What's going on?” Halo mouthed at Liz during their last lesson of the day. Liz just shrugged, dutifully copying down the notes off the board. The tension was so thick it felt like someone had drawn a metaphorical wall down the centre of the potions classroom, a wall only Liz, Thomas, Wood and Halo could see. Perhaps even Potter, Halo relented as she saw him throwing glances their way too from his place at Thomas’ side. Luckily they hadn't had to make any potions today, otherwise Halo was fairly confident someone would have blown something up. 

It was pretty typical that the school chose this year to break from the usual pairings of the Hufflepuffs with the Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors with the Slytherins. If this had happened last year the only place they would have been forced to see Potter and his Pals would have be the great hall. Now they were in practically every lesson. Curse their luck.

When the final bell rang Liz practically ran from the room, by the time Halo had finished packing up her own stuff Liz had disappeared. Before she could rush after her, Thalia grabbed her arm. “We need to talk” 

“Well that's not ominous or anything” Halo joked, Thalia didn't bite, sending her a weak smile before starting to tow her out of the room. Halo wonder if this was about breakfast, or the fact that they hadn't sat together in any of their lessons, Thalia preferring to partner with Anastasia leaving the other four to rotate amongst themselves. Instead of the library or even the common room Thalia led her down to the Quidditch pitch.

Ahh, Halo thought to herself, that's what it's about.

“Did you see the flyer in the common room” Thalia asked, as soon as the reached the pitch, Thalia letting go of her arm as they headed over to the broomshed. Usually students weren't allowed to just come to the pitch to practice, it was typically booked up by the teams or team members, but it being the first day meant nobody was nearby beside a couple of third years up in the bleachers. 

“No, I must have missed it, what did it say?” Halo asked as they pulled out a couple of the school brooms, Thalia had her own up in the room but she hadn't unpacked it yet and neither of them particularly wanted to wait for her to go get it. 

“Tryouts are Saturday 9am.” They slowly wandered into the centre of the field. Halo waited for her to continue, sure that there would be more “Do you want to tryout?” Thalia seemed almost hesitant, Halo had never seen her so self conscious before.

“Of course, we have been planning to tryout for months, why would that change?” Halo mounted her broom but didn't kick off, waiting to hear Thalia’s answer

“Well I was talking to Ana, and she seemed to think it wasn't a good idea.” Halo’s mouth dropped open in shock. 

“Why on earth does Anastasia think that?”

“Well, she says that the team already has three chasers and that we should wait till next year when they leave to try out, and that as its OWL year this year we should be focusing on that” Halo couldn't believe what she was hearing. It took her a minute to respond.

“First of all, it's absolutely none of Anastasia business whether or not we try out for the Quidditch team, secondly we have already talked about all that, the two chasers in seventh year are more likely to be worrying about their studies this year than us, and it's only OWLs plenty of people have successfully juggled OWLs and Quidditch. I'm sorry Thalia, but I'm not going to let Anastasia’s jealousy or whatever this is stop us from trying out for the team. We're trying out, and that's that.” With a final shake of her head Halo pushed up from the ground and shot off, flying a few loops around the pitch to calm down, on her second lap she saw Thalia push off too, following the same loop she had. Halo stopped to let her catch up.

“Sorry, you're right. This is our thing, not Ana’s. Let's try out.” Thalia was back to her confident self “Race ya!” Thalia called over her shoulder as she sped off with a cheeky grin on her face. Halo smiled, before letting out a yelp and a yelled “Cheater”

***

They returned to the empty dormitory only a few minutes before dinner started, having quick hurried showers and changing into their ‘street clothes’. 

“The others must already be down there” Thalia mumbled as she applied a thick layer of pink gloss to her already shiny lips before standing up to admire herself in the mirror from every angle “Can you zip me up?” She gestured at the back of her bright pink dress. Halo finished tying up the laces of her brown hiking boots and wandered over to help. 

"I don't know why you bothered to get so dressed up, it's not like anyone actually cares.” 

“Oh, people care Halo, whether they admit it or not, everybody cares. Every time you do anything somebody is judging you, whether it's going to dinner or joining the Quidditch team, someone's always judging. So I like to look my best, so all the bitchy girls have nothing to bitch about and the guys notice me.” Thalia nodded to herself in the mirror before swinging around to the door. “Now come on, if we hurry there might still be some good food left.” 

Halo didn't respond, following Thalia without a word. She couldn't be bothered to argue that nobody really cared that much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, less dialogue.  
> Thanks for reading :)


	4. Of Quidditch Tryouts

Nobody was talking about Thomas and Lizbeth’s short-lived relationship, not even Thalia or Catarina had the balls to bring it up. As far as Halo could tell, Liz and Thomas hadn't talked since the train journey almost six days ago. Liz was miserable, and after the second day not even Catarina’s dirty jokes could draw her out of her funk. Halo was ready to kill Thomas, well perhaps not kill, but seriously maim at least. 

Halo had been so caught up in Liz’s drama that she hadn't even realised the first week of classes had gone by till Thalia woke her up bright and early Saturday morning. Liz had cried herself to sleep last night after they had seen one of the Gryffindor sixth years cuddling up to Thomas in the great hall, so none of them felt all that well rested.

“Wh..what?” Halo muttered glancing at the alarm clock perched on her end table and taking in the time “why are you waking me up at 7? On a weekend?” 

“Shhh… Its quidditch tryouts remember?” She hadn't, but there was no way she was admitting that, so with nothing but a light grunt she dragged herself out of bed and began the slow process of getting herself ready for the day. 

Thalia was already waiting by the door, her new broom swung over one shoulder. She had given Halo her old one on Monday night, Halo may have cried a little bit, but no one could prove anything. 

They wandered slowly down to the great hall, grabbing a piece of fruit each and continuing on to the pitch. Neither of them particularly wanted a full stomach for this experience. They flew a few warm up laps around the pitch chatting lightly about the school work they had received so far and the benefits of choosing ancient runes and arithmancy over divination and muggle studies (there weren't any). 

At 8:30 the Ravenclaw team arrived, along with their captain, Jonathan Davies. He seemed surprised that they were there, but ultimately ignored them in favour of waving his team up into the air. His two sixth year Beaters Tyler and Davidson, seventh year Chasers Gordan and Winxley, sixth year Chaser, Bell and their little fourth year Seeker Amy Crueger. It wasn't unusual for a captain to host tryouts when he already had a full team, there was always the need for reserves and every once and a while an unexpected talent came along. 

Halo and Thalia planned on being that unexpected talent.

Halo and Thalia, in unspoken agreement, descended and spread out on the grass to watch the team warm up. They were impressive, that was for sure, darting this way and that throwing the quaffle so quickly it was almost a blur, never once dropping it, but also never getting it past Davies either. Tyler and Davidson were content to just hit the bludger back and forth between them whilst Amy completed steep dives and various other broom tricks. They were good, but there was a reason they hadn't won the cup last year.

As the time ticked closer to nine more and more people turned up in dribs and drabs, the last few stragglers rocking up with only five minutes to spare. At nine on the dot, the team landed and followed their captain over to the gathered students. 

"So here's how it's going to go, your going to split up into the positions your trying out for and write your name down onto this sheet” Davies held up a muggle clipboard showcasing a sheet already split into the aforementioned sections, Halo was surprised to see there was even a spot for Keepers. “Then you'll be going off with the team members who already hold those positions to run a few drills, if you can't keep up your out. Anyone left at the end will compete with my team members for the spots. I will put a sheet up in the common room by tomorrow with a list of who made it, that includes the reserves. Any questions?” Nobody was brave enough to ask. “Great lets go!”

They lined up orderly, writing their names down carefully one after the other, Halo was not surprised to see that over half of the students were trying out for chaser. When that was done everybody split up. Halo and Thalia trotted along with twelve others as the boys lead them to the centre of the pitch.

They began with fast laps of the pitch, if Gordan, Winxley or Bell lapped you, you were out. A couple first years who hadn't even had their first flying lessons yet were gone quickly, soon followed by two third years, a second year, a single seventh year, his two classmates patting him on the back with regretful looks on their faces as they passed him by and then two fourth years who got into a scuffle mid air, so distracted it took them a few minutes to work out that they had lost. In the end only four of them remained, Halo, Thalia, a bug-eyed second year and a smirking Xavier, their fellow fifth year classmate. 

On a call from Davies they descended to the ground. Thalia was surprised “Is that it?” She whispered quietly to Halo.

Though clearly not quietly enough as Bell answered “Not yet kid, still got to fight us for it.” The second year looked terrified at that, whilst Xavier only smirked some more, he clearly though he had the reserve spot in the bag.

Thalia was offended, ‘kid’ she mouthed, Halo only smiled. Despite what they had said about having it in the bag, she was nervous. All it took was one screw up and they were gone. Like Thalia could sense it she leant over and took her hand, giving it a light squeeze, ‘Buck up’ she seemed to be saying. Halo squeezed back ‘thank you’.

“Alright who have we got left,” with a sigh Davies read out the names, anyone left responded when called. “So four Chasers, two Beaters, three Seekers and two Keepers. Alright, not to shabby.” Davies seemed impressed at the number they had left, he either overestimated his team or underestimated his house, going by the simplicity of their ‘drills’ Halo suspected both could be true. 

“So, we're going to start with the Keepers, I'm going to give you both a turn in the goals, and my Chasers will be throwing the quaffles. Then I'm going to unleash the bludgers and see how well you Beaters go at knocking my team off their brooms. Then I'll let out the training snitch and see if any of you Seekers can catch it. And finally I'll finish with you Chasers. Keepers with me, everybody else get comfortable.” With that he turned on his heel and wandered over to the chest in the middle of the pitch. 

“You heard him people.” Gordan shouted, herding the students over to the bleachers. Halo and Thalia settled down for a long wait.   
***

“We should've brought some food.” Halo muttered leaning back against Thalia’s thighs “it’s like what, 11 and I've only eaten fruit, I'm actually going to starve.” 

“Try ten and you are such a drama queen” Thalia laughed, eyes locked on the prospective Keepers as they made a few spectacular saves, and a fair few spectacular misses. 

“I am not.” Halo argued crossing her arms across her chest and pouting like a two year old. She turned to look up at Thalia “This is a really good angle on you by the way, I can see all the way up your nostrils” Thalia laughed and swatted at her, turning away from the train wreck that was taking place in the air. 

They soon descended into silly talk about what foods they would be if they could and whether or not they would subsequently eat themselves.

“To be honest, if I turned into chocolate, I would probably eat myself.” Thalia threw her head back laughing so hard she was shaking “I mean I don't know if I could help myself, it would just be too tempting, turn me into cauliflower or…or I don't know, celery, we’re all good, but turn me into chocolate, and I'd be gone by sundown.”

Thalia was about to reply when Xavier plopped himself down next to them. They sobered up quickly, shooting him with matching confused looks. In their entire schooling career Xavier had not once elected to speak with them. “So girls, what's going on with Lizbeth and Hamish Thomas, I've been hearing rumours” 

Neither one of them answered at first, turning to look at each other before turning back to him. Thalia started.

“First of all, it's none of your business, secondly, it's none of your business and thirdly, it's none of your fucking business” They sat their in silence looking at him blankly until he eventually got up and walked away without a word. “Well that worked.” Thalia said mildly before they once again descended into peals of laughter. 

***

An hour later the seekers were just finishing up, none of them had caught the training snitch in the allotted fifteen minutes, though one of the third years had come close, with an exasperated sigh Davies waved them off. The Beaters hadn't been any better than the Keepers and it was fair to say that Davies was getting pretty frustrated, it was looking like he had wasted an entire morning for nothing. 

He called the Chasers to the middle of the field. “We're going to start off by seeing if any of you can get a shot past me, then if you manage that we’ll play a small game of you guys vs my chasers, just to see your team work skills in practice. If I'm impressed you'll see your name on the sheet tomorrow, if not, well…don't be too disappointed you can always try again next year.” Davies clearly already considered them a lost cause, passing the quaffle to Winxley and shooting off to the goals. 

“So we’ll go by age, second year first, then the girls then Xavier” Halo thought it telling that he had remembered Xavier’s name, they all clearly thought he would be this years primary reserve. 

Halo pushed off into the air, huddling with Thalia as Winxley threw the quaffle to the second year. She watched Xavier out of the corner of her eye as he pumped himself up. Her attention was brought back to the second year as he lined up to make the shot. He missed, of course, but it hadn't been a bad attempt, even Davies looked grudgingly impressed. 

Thalia flew over next catching the ball that Davies threw her way with ease. She hovered for a few moments before she took a deep breathe and rushed forward. She dipped one way, Davies followed her, she looped back around and made her shot. For a second, Halo was sure she had done it, breathe caught in anticipation she watched as the ball descend, almost in slow motion towards the hoop. At the last second Davies caught it, just, by the tips of his fingers. 

Halo’s heart sunk but she gave Thalia a little smile as she flew back to them. Halo realised with a jolt that it was her turn, flying forward just in time to catch the quaffle, catching it in one hand and shooting forward with her other wrapped round the handle, she wasn't going to pause like Thalia, she was too nervous, no she was just going to go for it. Like a bullet she hurtled towards the goals dipping low before streaking up only a few meters from the highest goal, with a grunt she released it and watch as it hurtled towards the post. At the last second Davies zipped up and caught it with one hand. Her heart sank once more, well that's that then she thought, turning back round to fly over to Thalia, who looked just as dejected as her, though Thalia tried to muster a smile for her, Halo appreciated the effort.

“Better luck next time” Xavier snorted as he flew past her on his way to accept the quaffle, Halo wished desperately for him to fall to his death, well perhaps not his death, but serious injury maybe. 

Halo turned around to watch as Xavier made his shot, he carried himself with such confidence that she was sure he was going to get it, Davies seemed sure too, as a serious look overcame his face. ‘Finally, a real challenge’ his face seemed to say.

Xavier looped around a little after catching the quaffle, drawing the process out for as long as possible, perhaps trying to wear Davies out, Halo couldn't tell. Almost a minute later he finally hurtled forward and made his shot.

And missed. 

Halo felt like laughing as Davies caught the quaffle square in the chest, that was by far the most pathetic of the lot, and Davies seemed to realise it too. With a sigh he gestured them to the ground.

“Now, I don't want today to be a totally waste, so I'm giving you guys another chance, and even if you fail atleast it will be a good training exercise for my team.” Davies scratched at his short black hair wiping a bit of sweat of his brow before continuing “we're going to play some four on three. Second year, sorry Ewert right?” Without waiting for a reply he continued “you'll be playing with the two girls and Xavier, this is ultimately about your teamwork, keep the ball out of the other teams hands as much as possible. If you manage to get the ball you have to fly it back to the mid line before you can take a shot on the goal. Now our beaters are going to be fair, they'll be aiming for both teams equally. If you have any questions ask them now, otherwise lets hit the air”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of action in this one. I'm working on improving that aspect of my writing, so don't judge me too harshly.  
> Thanks for reading :)


	5. Of Quidditch Tryouts (Continued)

The game wasn’t going well. Ewert was pretty good, he caught a few shoddy passes and even managed to intercept once or twice. Xavier, on the other hand, was hogging the ball, going so far as to actually intercept the passes of his own team members. They were three points down and Halo had had enough. 

With a grimace she dived in, easily intercepting a wide pass from Bell and shooting back to the mid line. She hovered for a second, catching Thalia’s eye from her position on the other end of the field. ‘Now’ she thought, and together they burst forward ‘if we want to keep the ball out of Xavier’s hands our passes need to be tighter’.

They were flying right towards one another, neither one looking as though they were planning to pull up. Halo could feel the collective breath the team was holding. With a sigh she flipped upside down throwing the quaffle up. She didn't even need to look to know Thalia had caught it. She looped round, watching as Winxley and Bell closed in on Thalia’s position, with a bludger not far behind them.

‘You're not going to make it’ Halo thought, Thalia agreed. Winxley’s arm reached out to snatch the quaffle, and Thalia dropped it. Straight into Halo’s waiting arms. Winxley, Bell and the bludger collided. But Halo didn't hesitate, she had no idea were Gordan was or Xavier for that matter. With one last burst of speed she swooped into the score zone. Xavier rose up in front of her, a mean little smirk on his face. Halo dived below him and threw the ball, up, up, up into Thalia’s ready hands. A second later Ewert let out a cheer, Thalia had scored. 

One to three, they could still do this as long as they kept the ball out of Xavier’s hands. For five minutes they played on making two more shots on the hoops, bringing the score to an even three to three. In a spectacular pass, like something out of a professional quidditch game, Ewert managed to bring the score to four to three. Halo relished the looks of shock on the boys faces, and the deep frown on Xaviers. He hadn't touched the quaffle even once since the first goal, and he was getting desperate.

Just then Thalia made an exceptional interception between Gordan and Winxley, passing the ball to Ewert, who tried to pass it back only to have it intercepted by Xavier of all people, who flew back to the mid line as if he was in a team of his own. He was barely half way down the pitch when a bludger from Davidson dropped the quaffle right into Bells arms. They made a desperate, hurried run and scored. Now it was four to four. 

They needed a goal and they needed it now, before Xavier could recover from the bludger. With new found determination Ewert came out of the scuffle with the quaffle under his arm, passing quickly to Thalia at the mid line. A waylaid bludger almost hit her, she dropped it to a waiting Halo who circled around the pitch, dodging a shaky Xavier who thought his best strategy was just to rush her. She passed it on to Ewert who flew it down the pitch, dropping it to Thalia before a bludger smashed into his arm, with a cry of pain, he was out. 

‘Just you and me Thalia’ Halo thought. Bell was acting like a second keeper as Winxley and Gordan closed in on Thalia from either side, they battered against her but she held firm, completing a sharp turn right at the bleachers, sending Gordan off his broom and buying precious time. She flew back to the posts, Bell shot off towards her, seconds away from contact she dived off her broom … and onto Halo’s waiting one. Bell, disorientated, followed her down, missing the pass between the two girls. It took him a second to realise Thalia no longer had the ball, with a shake of his head he turned round to watch as Halo sent the quaffle sailing into the wide open hoop from her smiling position on Thalia’s broom. 

“Did they just…”  
“Swap brooms in mid air…yes I believe they did.”

***

“Do you think you made it?” Cass asked as they wandered over to the lake. Halo and Thalia had wandered out of the changing rooms to find Cass, Liz and Catarina waiting for them, a basket of food in their arms. Halo had nearly drooled as the rich smells of a full English breakfast wafted from the small wicker basket.

“I don't know, perhaps. We were certainly better than Xavier that's for sure.” That got a few laughs, they had spent countless hours despairing over the fact they had to share a common room with Xavier and his prickish friends, a little humiliation on the quidditch pitch was nowhere near enough revenge for the problems those boys had caused over the years. 

They settled down on the bank of the lake, slowly unpacking their breakfast, watching as a few Gryffindor third years braved the cool water, girls in skimpy bathers and topless boys splashing one another and laughing.

“Please tell me we weren't doing that in third year” Catarina groaned. It was a well known fact that Catarina hated ‘children’ (aka anyone younger than them). 

“No, pretty sure that's purely a Gryffindor thing.” Thalia smirked “we were busy making eyes at the speckly Hufflepuff fourth years in the library” 

“Hey, James Peakes is a gorgeous specimen of a man, and I won't have you speaking badly about my future husband.” Catarina was only half joking, having been in love with Peakes for years, even before he filled out and grew an inch last year, not that anyone would know it. Catarina made hiding her crush an art form. She had actually cried last year when he started dating some elfy-haired, snot-nosed prefect in the year above. As far as Catarina knew they were still together, though Halo had heard rumours that there relationship could be on the rocks. 

“Uhoh, we have incoming.” Thalia said. They all swung round to see Potter and his Pals come strolling out of the entrance hall doors. They were dressed in shorts and tank tops, towels thrown over their shoulders or looped around their necks, their tanned skin out on display. Potter even had a pair of sunglasses hooked into the v of his shirt. Halo had to admit, they looked good. And they seemed to know it, wide smirks gracing their faces, a swagger in their steps, casting looks at the scattered groups of girls lounging around on the grass enjoying the weak Autumn sunlight. It was the confidence that made them even sexier. 

Right up until they spotted the girls sitting by the lake. Almost as one their faces dropped, Thomas went so far as to actually turn around as if to walk away.

Lizbeth looked like she was about to cry, shaking her head and sending a ringlet-full wave of hair down to cover her face. 

Halo didn't understand what was going on with them, how everything had gotten so screwed up. One minute they were perfectly happy the next Thomas was avoiding Liz like she was the plague. Halo wasn't the only one who was confused. She watched as Thomas and Potter had a heated argument, the other boys chiming in, clearly on Potter’s side. 

Thomas stormed off after a couple of minutes, throwing his arms into the air and heading for the forest. 

“God damn him!” Liz jumped up and stormed after him. Goodbye tears, hello fury. The girls all looked at each other before ultimately deciding not to follow her. The boys seemed to be experiencing the same dilemma, hesitating on the front steps. Until they spotted Lizbeth, then they continued on to their original destination, the lake.

Halo felt disgusted at the looks they received from the pubescent girls of all ages, even some first years were shooting eyes at them. ‘They're just boys’ she felt like screaming. 

The four boys passed them without a second look, settling down a few hundred meters away, pulling their tops off and jumping into the lake. 

The girls spent the rest of the morning munching away on their breakfast, consciously not talking about Liz and casting sly glances at the boys swimming away in the water, as happy as pigs in mud. Some took more glances then others. Cass actually moaned out loud when Potter pulled himself out of the lake and padded over to sun bake on his towel. 

"Fuck me!" Cass wasn't as careful as Catarina, when it came to hiding her crush. Potter even looked over at them, a smirk clear upon his face. “Oh god, he heard that, didn't he?”

A cheerfully sarcastic “Yep” from Catarina sent Cass’ cheeks bright red, and the girls into peals of laughter, which only abated when they spotted Liz and Thomas returning from the forest. They didn't look all that happy, but also not as unhappy as they had looked this morning. Atleast they were holding hands.

The girls sat and watched as they approached. Thomas stopped to talk with Potter, crouching down at his side, whilst Liz continued on with only one look back to check out his arse. 

Catarina had noticed too “That's some serious restraint right there”. It was a well acknowledged fact that Thomas had one of the greatest arses in Hogwarts, second only to Potter, and perhaps Peakes. 

Liz sat herself down on the grass, picked up the remains of her unfinished breakfast and began chomping away. Catarina and Thalia sent her disbelieving looks, Cass was too busy staring at Potter to pay any attention. Halo ignored them all, wishing she was anywhere but here, she could feel another argument coming on. Lizbeth, always reluctant to talk about her private life, Thalia, noisier than a fly and Catarina always looking to dig up trouble. Halo wondered if drowning herself in the lake would be more painful than the ensuring conversation was sure to be.

“So, what happened?” It began innocently enough with a question from Thalia.

“Not much, we just talked.” Liz was already short with her, she clearly didn't want to talk about it, not that Halo blamed her, if she were having relationship problems she wouldn't want to tell all her nosy friends either.

“Mm mm, just talked, huh” Catarina's voice was thick with suggestion, Liz cut her down with a quick “Yep”. Halo had no idea why they wouldn't just give up then. Surely they knew better than to think Liz would tell them anything if she didn't want to. She was the most stubborn of them all. 

Halo laid back in the plush grass, patting her tummy, as the morning dew that still coated the ground, even at this late hour of the morning, sunk into her clothing. She closed her eyes and wished she had the foresight to bring sunglass like Potter. She ignored the bickering that her friends conversation had dissolved into and promptly fell asleep.

***

“Can I tell you something?” Liz was wringing her hands together “I really need to talk to someone” 

“Of course” Halo replied, yawning a bit, she was still tired even after her mid day nap. The girls had woken her up an hour later and they had trotted off together to the library to knock over some homework. They knew OWL years was going to kick their butt and they hoped to get as far ahead of the game as possible. 

“Perhaps somewhere more quiet” Liz whispered looking around the crowded common room. Halo agreed, she didn't much like the looks Anastasia and her friends were shooting their way. “This place is full of busy-bodies”. 

It was almost nine, so they simply wandered up to the top of the tower and out onto the battlements. It was quite a chilly evening so the only people to disturb them were a couple getting busy in the corner. 

"So what's this about” Halo was pretty sure she knew, but she knew Liz would appreciate it more if she pretended not to. 

“I need some advice… About Hamish” It took Halo a second to realise she was talking about Thomas. 

"Of course, anything” 

“When we went into the forest, or rather when I followed him into the forest, we sort of yelled a bit. You know ‘why the hell have you been ignoring me?’ ‘Stop ignoring me.’ ‘Don't walk away from me, I know you're not deaf’, okay so maybe it was just me yelling." Liz shook her head, a dark smile on her face. “I really don't know what his problem is, after ignoring me he suddenly turned around and started spitting out all these bullshit excuses about how he was really stressed about school, and how he didn't know how I wanted him to act around me at school and it just turned into this big mess… I don't know what to do, I said it was fine and that we would sort it out, but I just don't know. I really like him you know, but if this bullshit keeps up then that might be it. I don't like to play games, you know Halo, they piss me off. No matter how much I might like someone, if they play games I'm out. I just don't know what to do Halo.”

“Do you really like him, Liz?” Liz looked down at her linked hands, chipping away at the pale pink nail polish that adorned her nails. 

“Yeah Halo, I really do. At least I used to. During the holidays I was smiling everyday, and he was so sweet.” Liz was smiling to herself, remembering the happy moments they had. “He had this adorable little smile and this one cute little dimple that only came out when he was really happy”

“How would you feel if you never had any of those moments again? If you didn't try and work it out, if you just let it all go, if you didn't give him a second chance, how would you feel? Would you feel relieved that you never had to suffer through another week of not knowing what's going on, or would you be upset that you don't get anymore of those cute moments with him? And for all you know you might sort everything out.”

“I guess” Liz wasn't a hundred percent convinced.

“What have you got to lose?” Liz smiled half-heartedly, nodding slightly. Halo knew that Liz wouldn't sleep tonight, would spend the night considering all the options, whether Thomas was really worth the week of abject misery he had put her through. 

Halo was pretty confident the answer would be yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
